Title

Speakers

Document Type

Video

Date

Fall 9-13-2016

Abstract

Speaker Bio:

Zainab A. Alwan is the Attorney for the Asylum Project with GAIN. Prior to joining GAIN, Ms. Alwan worked with Socheat Chea, P.C., a private immigration law firm in Atlanta, GA. Ms. Alwan is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Georgia and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She currently serves as the GA/AL AILA Ambassador to the American Immigration Council and is a member of the Asylum Office/AILA liaison committee. Ms. Alwan is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the University of Rochester. When Ms. Alwan is not advocating for immigrant rights, she devotes her time to interfaith work in the Atlanta area.

Topic Description:

A Credible Fear Interview (CFI) or Reasonable Fear Interview (RFI) is an interview conducted by the Asylum Office to assess whether an asylum seeker possesses reasonable fear of returning to their home country. This interview is conducted after the individual is apprehended at the border. As a volunteer, you would join the individual at their interview (telephonically) and ensure that their rights are protected.

This session will describe the process for seeking asylum, provide an overview of GAIN's CFI/RFI volunteer program, and train students on the interview process. After the training students interested in participating may sign up to volunteer as an intern or an on-call interpreter or translator.